Concentration lapse while driving - Share yours

This is a discussion on Concentration lapse while driving - Share yours within Drive Safe, part of the Road Safety category; I had issues with lapse of concentration when I am forced to drive behind a slow moving vehicle for an ...

I had issues with lapse of concentration when I am forced to drive behind a slow moving vehicle for an extended period. This happens very often when driving in undivided roads in Kerala during peak traffic hours. Two of my accidents, even though minor, had happened due to frustration and trying to squeeze through in blind curves or narrow gaps.

We had purchased an i20 just few days back. I was trying to adjust the media player while doing triple digit speeds on a highway, suddenly Innova whizzed past me and I turned the steering slightly to the left to avoid a possible collision. Felt the boat like feeling especially associated with Hyundai cars and (in)famous feather light steering that day.

Lesson learnt: Never try to adjust media player while doing such high speeds.

I had recently learned driving on my vento and was on my third or fourth trip to nasik. The vehicle was fully loaded with 5 adults and luggage in the boot. I decided to take a shortcut and was driving through some villages. Those roads had a lot of speed breakers and to avoid the belly scraping I was approaching at an angle.I used to steer a bit left and then to the right on the breaker to make an angle of approx. 45 degree. On one of the breakers I forgot to look in my left ORVM and had a biker overtaking from left carshing onto the bumper. I still regret my mistake and try not to repeat it again.

From my personal experience, situations where I had a concentration lapse

NH4 between Tumkur and Belgaum: Driving at 120 kph+ often makes me tired, sleepy or exhausted. Had close shaves with trucks moving at slow pace. Some living objects cross the road without looking left and right properly, could be a human or an animal you never know.Lesson learnt: Accountability of every living being on the road lies with you, even though you may or may not be completely responsible

Bangalore - Chennai highway between Krishnagiri and Vellore, Witnessed speeding cars on curvaceos sections drifting from left to right and vice-versa.Mumbai - Pune expressway: How about speeding bad drivers showing off their drifting skills in front of warning boards saying 'Maintain low speeds to avoid tire bursts'. What if there is a sudden tire burst? Even an alto could topple followed by tailgating vehicles for no reason.Lesson Learnt: Be alert and never tailgate a vehicle on highways/expressways for your peace of mind, not everyone is a skilled or trustworthy driver.

Its from my personal experience. Always take consent from your partner or co passenger on highways, expressways or in tough situations. One such incident happened with me last year during monsoons. We were returning from Mangalore to Bangalore via Shiradi ghats. Dense fog appeared out of nowhere. visibility was too low that my car's headlamps weren't visible to either of us. I thought of stopping over permanently till dawn, but wifey encouraged a lot to keep going with windows down. I did that at 5 kmph and within minutes become part of some cavalry moving towards Belur with parking lights on.

Had a few bad situations:
1) Was driving from Mumbai to Shirdi- Had returned late from office at 3 am, caught a quick shut eye and started at around 7am on a Saturday. My wife who was in the front passenger seat went to sleep as she was tired with the work load from the previous week . Some where after crossing Nasik, I dozed off for a few seconds and was shocked to find myself facing a jeep from the opposite lane. Thank GOD.. ..I was able to complete the corrective maneuver in the nick of time and I am alive to narrate the story today. Pulled over and got out of the car, was shivering..... washed my face, walked over to the closest tea stall, had a cup of tea, walked around the car for a few min and then slowly continued our journey.
Lesson Learnt- Never drive if you are fatigued or not rested
2) March'14- Was driving from Bangalore to Pune with wife and daughter in my wife's I10 which loaded to the brim with luggage as part of our phased relocation. I rarely drive this car and is used to the SX4 and Safari which are my daily drives.
I was following a trailer for a long time after Hebbal to Yeshwantpur, eventually lost patience and tried to overtake it in spite of seeing a truck coming from the opposite side. Even though,I flashed the head lamps to signal about my move, the truck from the opposite side continued at the same speed and my car did not have enough pulling power to complete the move. I was lucky to have just squeezed through the gap when the truck passed. It was an unnecessary risk taken by me which would have endangered my family
Lesson Learnt: Do not take unnecessary risks, delay of a few minutes is not worth risking the lives of your loved ones, do not be rash, know the machine well before you use it

overtake it in spite of seeing a truck coming from the opposite side. Even though,I flashed the head lamps to signal about my move,

Its not a concentration lapse, its done deliberately thinking that flashing will give the priority and the other vehicle will stop, which is the most common reason for 95% of the accidents. Really sad to see people doing these stunts. (Not against the OP, my reaction was in general)

.... Even though,I flashed the head lamps to signal about my move, the truck from the opposite side continued at the same speed...

Though it may seem insensitive on the truck drivers' part, they do NOT let go of the momentum since it takes time to re-build it. Even I used to think why can't they slow down etc but over the years of highway driving has made me add a lot more empathy to truck drivers.

Ah! This one time, 8 years ago, I dozed off for a few seconds while driving on the Ring Road near Moti Bagh in Delhi. I hit a red coloured Getz from the rear and its bumper got a dent (which I later corrected with my own hands after apologising). I was travelling with my sister and Dad, both of whom were already sleeping because all of us had a long previous night. This is the most stupidity I've done on the road and since then you'll always find a pack of mint in my car.

sometime in 2009 my wife and I were driving from indiranagar to BTM layout and while on the intermediate ring road after domlur, my wife just said - 'isn't that a wonderful saree'. I looked to my right at mother earth shop and by that time the car jumped on a big speed breaker; car was in the air for a second may be.
I immediately had the car under control and parked it onto the side safely.
The most tensed moment arrived! why? because my wife was pregnant at that time; we immediately rushed to hospital to check the heart beat of our baby and its only when the doctor gave positive assurances that we had a big relief.

Was driving at 40kmph in Hyderabad . Suddenly a huge Jockey Underwear hoarding caught my attention . The second I look at the road again , the car in front of me (Hyundai Eon) applied sudden brakes and BAAMM. My bonnet was crushed and the car in front of me had a broken back bumper . Mistake was not entirely mine as a share auto had suddenly popped in front of the Eon and the Eon guy reacted late and collided with the share auto . Luckily the driver of the car was a decent guy , took a picture of my insurance and the matter was settled . And I can say, I learnt a lesson that day .

The first bang I experienced with my car was in my apartment parking itself. My parking place is in a corner in such a way that it is 2 way surrounded by wall and a column protrudes from the wall and I generally park it reverse so that while I go out, it becomes easy to me.
And that day, while I was reversing the car, I became a bit casual and the car came too close to the wall and bang. The part below the tail lights were thrusted into the wall .
And I was left with a dent and a Lesson .

My bonnet was crushed and the car in front of me had a broken back bumper . Mistake was not entirely mine as a share auto had suddenly popped in front of the Eon and the Eon guy reacted late and collided with the share auto . Luckily the driver of the car was a decent guy , took a picture of my insurance and the matter was settled .

You have a misunderstanding here. For whatever been the reason, if a vehicle rams from behind then the vehicle at rear is always at fault. As per law you are supposed to maintain sufficient space that will give you enough room to react even in case of panic braking by the lead vehicle.

I have always been too enthusiast a driver but luckily never had any trouble on the road. However, with passing time I've realized that short bursts of 140-160 don't really help much in the 12-14 hr drive on Indian highways so I've mellowed down a lot. Not to mention, this has made me enjoy road trips even more than simply trying to out-race every other car on the road.

This one time me and wife were coming back from the mountains and decided to skip the last day's halt and instead drive directly to Delhi, which was another 10-11 hours drive. I was driving since 6 in the morning and we decided to continue at 4pm, which meant I'd be driving for ~20-22 hours straight.

Everything was ok till the last 50 kms of our drive when I started feeling veryyy sleepy. I took 2 time-outs to wash my face but the sleep was getting the better of me. Instead of parking the car and taking a quick nap I simply decided to continue. As I got more sleepy I decided to drive a little too fast to keep myself awake.

I didn't realize how bad it was until the next day when I couldn't remember bits of the last hour of the drive clearly. I looked at my wife and swore never to do that again. I had obvious concentration lapses and at multiple times but was too arrogant to accept them at the time of the drive, just wanted to make it home somehow as I was too tired, ironic it was.

My last long trip was to Jaisalmer and because of wide long roads with minimal traffic I felt sleepy twice and both the times I pulled up next to a safe spot and dozed off for 15-20 mins. This way I was alert throughout the day to enjoy the drive and didn't put us or anybody else at risk.

That long drive in the night was a good lesson to me and ever since I plan my trips at a leisurely pace instead of making everything touch and go just to cover more kms.

I didn't realize how bad it was until the next day when I couldn't remember bits of the last hour of the drive clearly. I looked at my wife and swore never to do that again. I had obvious concentration lapses and at multiple times but was too arrogant to accept them at the time of the drive, just wanted to make it home somehow as I was too tired, ironic it was.

Apart from sleep, what you may have experienced could be Highway Hypnosis! You can google the term and there will be something interesting to read!